This invention relates to apparatus for making thin protective gloves by simultaneous cutting and welding of a double thermoplastic film web along a hand outline. A known apparatus for making protective plastic gloves in this manner comprises a conveyor mechanism intermittently moving the double film web along a horizontal path over a flat supporting bed through a cutting and welding station incuding a cutting and welding tool which is vertically movable and adapted to be pressed against the web and the supporting bed during the rest periods of the conveyor. The tool includes a heated die formed to the outline of the glove to be made, and when the die is pressed against the supporting bed and the film web, the glove formed by the welding or fusing together of the two films is directly parted from the surrounding film areas. Thus, the heat of the die both joins the films by fusing them together along the glove outline and cuts through the films along the weld or seam. A transfer member formed by a suction plate or box then is engaged with the glove, lifts it from the bed and moves it to a delivery station where the glove is released from the transfer member which subsequently returns to the cutting and welding station. In the meantime, the conveyor mechanism advances the film web so that a new glove can be made and transferred to the delivery station in the just-described manner.
In order that the cutting and welding operation may be accomplished in a satisfactory manner, the surface supporting the web at the cutting and welding station (this surface usually is formed by a layer of polytetrafluoroethylene, e.g. Teflon) has to be smooth. However, a smooth supporting surface makes the lifting of the glove difficult, since the thin and flimsy film material often has a tendency to adhere to the smooth surface.
Another disadvantage of the known apparatus is that it has poor production capacity and utilizes the film material poorly; a large proportion of the total area of the film web is not utilized but becomes scrap.